Trees play a pivotal
role in leading our eye into the painted image of a landscape and in creating
the illusion of space. In Albert Namatjira's art, their position in the
foreground and at the perimeter of horizontal formats adds depth in different
ways.

In many of Namatjira's
paintings, trees are subjects in their own right. In some, they are portraits
of living entities and the history of their survival is evident in the
way they are depicted. Our tendency to see a connection between the human
condition and nature is facilitated by the cropped view of the tree. Trunks
become torsos, branches become arms; while bark functions like skin- folds
and wrinkles are created by the pressures of the tree's growth, which
is not only upwards but also outwards.